Numerous approaches have been taken to the construction and design of mazes for various purposes, most notable of which are puzzles or games in which the player must by sight or by feel locate a series of winding passages, commonly referred to as a labyrinth or maze, and advance an object through the passages to reach the end and solve the puzzle. For example, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 2,591,303 to R. M. Schriner et al discloses a puzzle in which a series of rotatable collars are mounted on a common shaft, and the shaft is removable only by rotating the collars to align pins with notches on the collars.
U.S. Letters Pat. No. 2,714,511 to D. J. Derrig also discloses a combination of a shaft having a dog which must be advanced through spaced annular ribs, the ribs having transverse slots through which the dog must pass. Several different versions are disclosed in Derrig but in any case requires an outer canister or container for the ribs; also, for a given number of ribs or rings requires open spaces between radial slots and is limited in the number of combinations of guideways through the maze which may be devised. A similar approach to that of Derrig is disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,065,132 to W. Giakas.
Maze-type constructions have been proposed in the past for use in locking devices and, for example, reference is made to U.S. Letters Pat. Nos. 3,824,815 to W. A. Darling and 3,847,398 to D. A. Kidd. Both patents to Darling and Kidd employ a pawl element and are unidirectional in the axial dimension as well as having moving parts on the plunger or shaft and spacing between the ring or disk elements to permit rotation. Other patents of interest in connection with maze-type puzzles, games and the like are U.S. Letters Pat. Nos. 3,637,215 to W. Keister, 3,819,187 to G. W. Downs, 3,594,005 to J. Vennola and 4,357,016 to M. H. Allison. Of the prior art patents of interest that employ a cylindrical maze, the maze or labyrinth is typically located between a pair of cylindrical members or at some radial distance away from the movable shaft or axis but does not radiate away from the shaft or axis so as to be internally generated.
The problems which the present invention is aimed to overcome is the construction of a compact internally generated maze which employs a minimum number of moving parts, is simplified and durable in construction, can be designed in varying degrees of complexity and is readily conformable for use in various other applications including but not limited to locking devices, amusement parks and video games.